Digital Home Systems to launch new in-house brand, zConnect

Perhaps best known as being the first Australian member of the Z-Wave Alliance, Melbourne-based home automation distributor Digital Home Systems has announced that it has developed its own brand of Z-Wave devices under the name zConnect.

The new range will be launched at the forthcoming Integrate Expo on stand C74. Products will reportedly begin shipping in September.

“This is very much a natural evolution from our early days as an importer and OEM, to now being a manufacturer,” director Jerzy Zywicki says.

“Being a full member of the Z-Wave Alliance has presented us with the opportunity to start producing our own products for the Australian market.”

With over 50 million devices sold worldwide, Z-Wave is the world’s fastest growing home automation technology. There are more than 1,500 certified Z-Wave products and 375 companies from all around the world that make up the Z-Wave Alliance.

“Having worked very closely with the Z-Wave Alliance for the past seven years, we’ve been able to monitor what the local market requires. That’s how we found a gap in the market; there are several products available internationally that aren’t available here and people are asking for them.

“We’ve received a lot of requests for very specific, niche products that we simply couldn’t get in Australia. Ours is a very small market compared to, say, the US, so it can be quite difficult to get Australian-approved product.

“Further, Australia has its own regulations so many international manufacturers would have to change a lot of details in order to comply with local standards – something that many manufacturers won’t do because of the associated cost.

“So we decided that it’s easier to simply make the product ourselves.”

All zConnect products are designed and assembled in Australia, Jerzy says.

So what exactly is the company launching?

“At Integrate, we will be introducing to market a fully-integrated garage door controller that does a lot more than just control a garage door,” Jerzy says.

“This controller includes inputs for binary multi-level sensors to fully control the entire garage environment – everything that ensures the door is in the right position and can open and close as well as having inputs for audio visual warning systems like alarms and lights.

“This simply doesn’t exist anywhere else in Australia as one device. You can use multiple solutions for a similar effect, but even still it is a lot more limited that what we’ll be able to achieve with zConnect.

Jerzy says the company will also be launching an automated water valve.

“People can already buy flood sensors, but all they really do is let you know if something is wrong. Once you get a notification, you then have to go home or call a friend or neighbour to do something about it.

“With our water valve, you’ll be able to automatically shut off the main valve, or get a notification and shut it down manually, remotely.”